1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an integrated driver circuit for a Local Interconnect Network (LIN) bus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Driver circuits of this type are also called LIN bus drivers or LIN transceivers. In the integrated driver circuit, an input data signal, which, for example, is provided by a microcontroller, which intends to transmit data over the LIN bus, is applied at an input terminal. An output data signal dependent on the input data signal, which fulfills voltage levels, edge steepness, etc., according to a LIN specification or a LIN standard, is output at an output terminal of the integrated driver circuit, connected to a bus line of the LIN bus.
At present, there are two customary specifications (standards) for LIN bus drivers. The older of the two specifications, which has the version number V1.3, has slower signal edges than the more recent of the two versions, which has the version number V2.0. At present, both versions are demanded on the market.
Conventional drivers support either the first version V1.3 or the second version V2.0 with the more rapid edges. In the manufacture of integrated driver circuits, it is therefore necessary to implement a version-specific driver circuit for each version.